According to a report by the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, drivers performing sales operations, such as food delivery, ranked as the fifth most dangerous job in the country. The report cites 25% of deaths in this segment of the delivery industry were the result of assault and/or robbery.
Employees who make deliveries, such as drivers working for restaurants, are often targeted by thieves, making their jobs dangerous. The risk of encountering violence or robbery is heightened because (i) delivery drivers are known to carry cash for payment transactions, (ii) often travel alone, and (iii) must leave the relative safety of their vehicles to make each delivery. The majority of restaurant deliveries take place at night, compounding the risk for delivery drivers.
Successful delivery operations are dependent on applying efficient and strategic methods. Modern delivery practices, as such in the current art, often create opportunities for decreased efficiencies, by depending on delivery drivers to make certain decisions that affect the success of the delivery program. Left to their own devices, delivery drivers can make inefficient judgments in regard to operations and tasks such as scheduling, routing deliveries, locating addresses, and transacting money for deliveries. This often results in unsatisfied customers and an ultimate loss of revenues. For this reason, many businesses forego delivery services citing the complexities of management, and lack of profitability.
Inasmuch as efficiencies and logistics drive successful food delivery programs, preserving the quality and presentation of delivered food are equally paramount. Many restaurants are discouraged from offering delivery services for fear of delivering a substandard product. Time spent on the road during the delivery process is a disadvantage for prepared foods. Most food items when prepared hot will often wilt and become soggy when left in delivery containers for an extended period of time. Similarly, food items intended to be served cold can spoil and/or melt when left unrefrigerated. New technologies and methods that guarantee freshly prepared food for delivery would be highly valued in the restaurant industry.
Advancements in digital communications, mapping and navigation, mobile food preparations, and payment/transactional technologies can foreseeably be incorporated into a modernized food delivery management and operating system to minimize the exposure and risks for delivery drivers, and to increase productivity and profitability for restaurant owners. Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for a system and method to promote these benefits, as described in greater detail herein.